Surely Giorgio Armani's Fall Collection, Kaleidoscope, was a hit for me. I am sure you have already guessed that right since I just can't stop writing about it. Shortly after I left one of the new ETK shades behind and bringing five of them home, I craved for it and returned back. Of course it was expected, but I just wanted to find out if I have changed a bit but luckily it shows I haven't *winks*.

Anyway, let's go on with the review, shall we? Armani Eyes To Kill #35 Silver Chafer is a soft gray, leaning slightly blue. I compared it below to my beloved gray of the line, #4 Pulp Fiction. I love it not just because of the name but also because of the shade, a rare gray which does work on me. I also pulled out #10 which I rarely use alone. ETK #10 is for me rather a inner corner highlight color.

Giorgio Armani ETK #35 Silver Chafer vs. ETK #10 and #4

Once swatched side by side, you can see that #10 is more white and #4 is more gray/taupe. #35 looks like a very very pale blue. If you like shimmery light lids, you can use it alone but I would like to show you the magic it does to other eye shadows, once used as a base. Armani ETKs dissolve in water and I have seen many Armani Make-up artists using it as a base to ETK quads. This time around I wanted to try it with the new Face&Eye Palette from the same collection, Venomous Green, to bring some light and "vibrancy" to it with a touch of metallics. If you remember the first look I posted with this palette (you can check it out here), it was a blended green one with a satin/matte finish.

Swatch of Giorgio Armani ETK #35 Silver Chafer vs. ETK #10 and #4

For the look below, I followed these steps:

I sprayed my brush with water and picked up ETK#35 from the pan, applying it all over the lid and pass the crease as a base. I also applied this along the lower lash line.

I then applied the lightest shade of eye shadow (right one, Tier 2) from F&E Palette starting from inner corner, half way along the lid. Base made this shade appear more lively and also a bit more "blue".

To the outer half of the lid, I applied the forest green (middle shade, Tier 2) from the palette. This one also pulled more blue compared to the previous look, thus everything ended up looking more teal. I also applied it to the lower lash line from half way on towards the outer corner.

I defined the crease with the darkest brown shade (left shade, Tier 2), blending it into the dark green.

I lined upper and lower lash line with a brown liner (I believe it was a water proof one from last summer) and smudged it with a smokey liner brush (Laura Mercier) to get rid of any harsh lines, making it look more natural.

Last step was mascara on top and bottom lashes.

I went back and padded a bit more forest green on mid of the upper lid (middle shade, Tier 2) to make this color pop.

There was also some discussion about if Tier 1 of Armani Palette would show up on light to medium complexions, so I add FOTD to this post for you to decide yourself. In reality the effect is a little more obvious but it really makes a very nude blush. For the look below, I applied it very heavily with Tom Ford blush brush. If you apply it sheerly, you may also use it as a face powder. You can see how much I liked the look by checking out the nails. Yes, right, this is Chanel Jade! I found it worthy enough to use one Jade mani on that one, so yay!

Final thoughts: Metallic and green are both in for upcoming season (such as the green palette from Dior, Bonne Etoile). Here is a way to get "metallic green" eyes without having a metallic green palette by using a metallic base. I tried it by using silver ETK #30 as a base to matte/satin green Face&Eye Palette. If you liked the look, you may also like to try out combining ETK #10 or #35 or a similar water based eye shadow (or even a creme one) with your favorite green eye shadow.

Do you use light metallic base to give your eye look a twist? Any other "base" tricks you would like to share with us?

11 comments

Omg this is the only ETK I passed on from this collection! I have 19 ETK shadows and I thought it would be close to the two grey ones I have but this swatch makes it seem more blue... Now makes me wonder if I should get it :-/ lol

Thanks so much for your lovely comment. When I was reading it I thought you were also a blogger and I was right! :-)) it really takes so much work and planning. Right now I am on holiday and I was making thousands of pictures everyday before flying here LOL.

I also left #35 behind then I went back to check it out and have seen this one is not duo chrome like the others but it is a beautiful "soft" gray which might work on me. After that I couldn't resist. It usually happens to me I leave some pieces behind and I keep going back. Some time SAs make fun of me, they say "see you tomorrow again" LOL.

OMG I do the same thing! Except I get too lazy to go back so I just order it online. But with this one I do have two slightly different shades of grey and #10 as well which does look similar and I never really use those. I have way too much now that I am not blogging. It is such hard work, I did it on and off when work was light and weather was good. I live in DC and the gloomy days are just way too many to do good swatches and lets be honest we all want to see those beautiful swatches! I can't imagine the time it must took for you to do those looks as well, they are truly great! I hope you keep it up tho :)

I think you should try. They are really awesome. Check also some out from the permanent range, my favorites are #2 for definition, #4 is a superb taupe/gray, #6 is a nice khaki gold... Be sure to try them wet too, I believe the color and sheen shows up much better.

The green in Face&Eye Palette is a true forest green, very close to emerald green (of this year). With silver it leaned rather to teal direction but I think I like the result. Thanks for your comment :-*